Eye of the Storm
by yugiohmaniac
Summary: Joey has moved away, but comes back to visit. An old friend re-appears...


Disclaimer- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters that reside within it, but I still do fanfiction just the same

**Disclaimer- **I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters that reside within it, but I still do fanfiction just the same.

**Characters- (in order of appearance): **

_**Joseph 'Joey' Wheeler- **__A kind hearted simpleton who has had to move away from Domino City to look after Serenity. He still has feelings for Mai, but is adamant that he won't act on them. _

_**Yugi Moto- **__Is mentioned several times and technically appears at the end, but it's like a strange film ending-you don't get to see the face of Joey's all-important friend. heh heh _

_**Atem- **__In this fic, he has actually left them, but his presence remains with them. Is also mentioned by the gang, but not often. Never actually appears- sorry! ___

_**Ryo Bakura (the good one) - **__Makes a brief appearance on Joey's journey, but I'm not a good Bakura fan (I like the bad one) so it's not much of one. Sorry again to Bakura fans! _

_**Mai Valentine- **__The old flame…she used to wear purple so I stuck her in purple! For a girl, she's actually very straightforward with her feelings. She probably wanted to see Joey all this time…_

҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉

_**The Eye of the Storm**_

Joey sauntered through a local café, whistling the tune to some recent hit. He glanced at the cakes under the counter, but when he looked at the money in his hand again he realised that he didn't have enough for a blueberry muffin, his favourite, and sighed mournfully. The man at the counter looked somewhere is his late fifties, and also looked very grumpy.

"Are you goin' to buy something, or are you goin' to move?" he growled at Joey. Without a word, Joey walked sadly out of the café and into the train station, his stomach rumbling. Slumping down on the bench, he texted Yugi to tell him that he would be getting on the next train and would be there soon. It had been two months since Joey had moved away from Domino City, but he still missed his friends as much as he had when he had left.

"_Yuge…Tea…Tristan…someday I'll be back for good, you just wait," _he had promised. But things weren't that easy. The main reason Joey had left in the first place was because his mother was ill, so he had to go to support Serenity. It had happened _just _at the wrong time. Everyone was still grieving after losing a friend…Joey himself had been cursing fate over and over for letting things turn out this way on the train to where Serenity lived.

_**Joseph, they're all stronger than you know. You're stronger than you know.**_Joeyjolted suddenly, scaring the person sitting next to him. He had never told anyone this, but since Atem had left, Joey had occasionally heard his voice, chastising him, telling him he was going to be fine. Nobody at school, though, not even Yugi, had said anything about him after that. _Only Atem could call me by my full name and keep a straight face. That was just who he was though. _

"_13.09 train leaving for Domino City- Platform 6. I repeat, 13.09…" _

Joey jolted up from his bench, hurriedly making for Platform 6 and diving onto the train just before the doors closed. After catching his breath, he scanned the train for somewhere to sit and nearly fell over backwards when he spotted Ryo Bakura. Bakura spotted him just at the same time, and beckoned him over.

"Joey! It's been so long! How are you?" asked Bakura eagerly in his chipper English accent. Joey shrugged.

"Same old, same old. My mom's finally getting better, so I took some time out to visit the gang…" he muttered shyly. Bakura was always so refined; kit was hard to talk around him. "What about you?" 

"I'm just coming back from a holiday," Bakura replied nervously, not wanting to upset Joey if he had been having problems and was homesick. "I'm kind of glad to be back, though."

"…Mm." Joey nodded noncommittally. Bakura sighed.

"None of us are the same, are we?" Bakura whispered. "None of us are the same without him." Joey didn't reply, he couldn't, it felt like his throat was closing up on him. Fortunately Bakura noticed and hastily changed the subject. "Um, Joey? I've been wondering for a while now…are you and Mai going out?" Because Joey looked so instantly shocked, Bakura quickly ploughed on, fiddling with his long, white hair. "It's just; you were always so good together, like pieces of a puzzle. I'm sure Mai's lonely now that all the adventure is over, you know?"

"Mai…Mai deserves someone better than me," Joey quickly launched into the speech he had used when everyone else asked him about Mai. "She doesn't want to get caught up in all my…gang history. She's 'going places.' I'm not. I doubt that I'll see her again."

"But Joey-" Bakura began again desperately.

"-This is my stop," Joey interrupted, standing up (and, thankfully, it actually _was_ his stop) but Bakura stood up as well.

"Joey, this is _my _stop too, remember?" he teased, but didn't mention Mai again. Hurriedly, Joey got off the train, annoyed and desperate to be alone for some reason, but only then did he notice that it was raining heavily, and he had no umbrella. Cursing under his breath, Joey took off, crazily deciding to attempt sprinting to the Game store, Yugi's home.

"Joey, what are you doing?!" a decidedly familiar female voice called after him. Joey stopped dead in the middle of the torrent to see a beautiful blonde woman in purple standing under the entrance way to a block of flats. Even after all this time, she somehow looked happy to see him. It was Mai.

"Mai…"he breathed. For the first time, he noticed that her eyes seemed much older, more mature maybe, and he wondered if she was having hard times of her own.

"Come on, get over here!" she cried, opening the door to the apartment blocks. "You're soaking wet!" Finally, Joey came to his senses, and rushed over to Mai. Without a further word, Mai pushed Joey up the stairs and into an apartment (no. 3, Joey noted for future reference) and banged the door shut behind her.

"It's nice to see you again, Mai." Joey said happily, sitting down on the floor and crossing his legs like a happy child. "Say, is this your apartment?" Mai frowned at him, and then turned away.

"Slow, aren't you?" she barked, opening a cupboard and rustling through piles and piles of clothes. Joey twitched at her cold nature. Why had she changed so suddenly? Suddenly, Mai turned around and threw a t-shirt in his face. "Put that on! I don't have any jeans for you!"

Joey blushed. "Uh…uh…" Mai pointed to a door on Joey's right side.

"You can get changed _in there!" _

҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉

Joey sighed to himself in the bathroom. Why was Mai so…so…cold to him? She'd never been that way before. Back then he knew her like he knew himself and any of his friends. Back then he had been desperate to be more than friends. But he'd given up on her, hadn't he? He went away, far away, and never said another word to her. Was Mai angry because he had made it look like he didn't care? _But I do care. Even Tristan could see that I wasn't the same about dating after Battle City. How do I show her…without hurting or angering her? _

_**You should be yourself. **_ Joey trembled at the sound of Atem's voice.

_But I've forgotten how to. _

҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉

When Joey had gotten out of the bathroom, the storm had worsened. Mai was slumped in her purple dress in a chair in front of the window. Even her whole body was slumped in a kind of defeatist statement, leaving Joey with no idea of how to approach her. Thunder crackled heavily outside. Mai took hold of one of the curtains with her hand, like she was about to draw it, but she did nothing.

Joey glanced around nervously, noticing how small the apartment was- Mai didn't have a bedroom, so she must have had to sleep on the floor. Somehow that idea made Joey very depressed. Mai used to be very high maintenance, but it seemed like she'd lost her energy over the time Joey hadn't seen her.

"The storm's getting worse." Mai announced. "You might have to stay here for a while." She said that last part in a resigned tone of voice, as if she didn't care for company much anymore, even Joey's.

"Mai…"Joey began nervously, feeling like he was about to talk his way through a concrete wall to get to the Mai he knew, "What have you been doing recently?" Mai finally turned her chair around to face him, and gestured for him to sit down on the only other chair in the house.

"I ran a bit short of money, so I'm winning duelling competitions where I can. I…I'm trying to get a book published right now." Mai told him carefully, as if expecting him to laugh at her for saying it.

"Cool!" he replied simply. "Is there any duelling in it?"

To his surprise, Mai burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? Of course there isn't!" Joey pulled his chair an inch closer.

"Can I read it when you've done?" he asked cautiously.

"…Only if it gets published," she giggled. "Otherwise I won't know if it's any good."

"I know anything _you_ write will be good, Mai." Joey said seriously. Mai's face fell, and she edged away from him.

"**Don't**, Joey. Just don't." Mai said shakily. "You left. You left me! If you wanted to be with me, you could have called me or _something!"_ The mask was well and truly off now. "I missed you so much and I wanted to be with you _so _much, but I decided to let you go when I heard that you had moved because of your family. When I wasn't with you, I missed you. But when I was with you today, I still missed you and felt lonely. There's a gap between us that didn't used to be there…"

"So this isn't what you want from me?" Joey concluded quietly. Mai nodded in silence. "Someday we'll heal that gap, Mai. And when we do, I'll hunt you down so we can be together."

Mai laughed suddenly again. "That…wasn't…" she giggled. Joey stared at her, bewildered.

"…What?" he asked warily.

"…very…romantic!!" Mai burst out into full blown laughter, and Joey laughed with her. _I remember. The old Mai always used to laugh when I did something stupid. _

҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉҉

Joey had camped out at Mai's, and the next morning they both headed to the Game shop where a belated welcome party was waiting for him (luckily Mai had remembered to call ahead to explain the situation the previous night.) _I still haven't told anyone about hearing Atem occasionally. Maybe, if I find a way to be with Mai…a way to be a little __**happier**__…I might not hear him anymore. Once I rescue everyone, Atem, then you can __**really **__enjoy the afterlife, can't you? _

Joey felt Mai squeeze his hand as she sensed his anxiety. Joey rang the bell at the Game shop, and the door opened for him immediately.

"I'm home, Yugi."


End file.
